


Exhaustion

by Angry_gremlin_commando



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asahi is a good gremlin and Zenos is tired, Established Relationship, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Past Unhealthy Relationship, Varis shows up briefly trying to be a parent, antagonists being good for each other is my jam sue me, impied Dom/Sub, their characterisation is based on random discord brainstorms so OOC warning for everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23050864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angry_gremlin_commando/pseuds/Angry_gremlin_commando
Summary: Zenos has a simple enough arrangement with Asahi. Mutual stress relief, simple and, dare he say, comfortable.Comfortable enough that neither of them minds stepping outside the parameters of their prior arrangement every now and then.
Relationships: Asahi sas Brutus/Zenos yae Galvus
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Exhaustion

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote these two idiots cuddling in an attempt to get out of writer's block. Basically that's all to it.
> 
> I blame Hero for being a bad influence and enabling the heck out of me.

Zenos dragged himself along the long corridors of the Ala Mhigan palace, one heavy step after the other. His father insisted on inspecting the state of his new legion in person to judge Zenos’ handiwork in cobbling it together from the shambles he was handed and weeding out the weak links. It meant a long day out in the hellish heat and burning sun that made his father’s scrutiny a tertiary concern if that.

The only thing that made the inspection bearable was the fact that his father had to bake there along with him in full imperial regalia and once that was over the medicus subjected him to the same ice bath, dignity be damned. The selfsame attributes that made it possible for Garleans to survive their frigid homeland made them susceptible to the heat of the desert, a weakness to which even the Emperor himself was no exception.

Ice could chase the lingering heat away, but not the bone-deep exhaustion that came with too many bells in the sun. Zenos shambled his way to his room, ready to collapse into bed clothes and all, but his plan was foiled by a slip of a Hyur reading by his desk.

It all started several moons ago, with a careless remark from Yotsuyu. Brief research, an interview, some paperwork and a personal agreement later one Asahi sas Brutus joined Zenos in his legion and bedroom alike. Once they settled into a routine and Asahi's unsettling enthusiasm to prove himself cooled into something more sustainably tolerable it became a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Asahi looked up from his reports then stood to welcome Zenos with a radiant smile. 

"My Lord, I'm glad that you could make it. I thought you might have ended up otherwise occupied tonight."

"The inspection was more draining than expected." His exhaustion was evident in his voice as well as in the laziness of his movements, terribly so. A brief flash of worry crossed the Doman's face before he schooled his expression and stepped closer to help Zenos out of the many layers of his ceremonial outfit. It was an oddity that lit a spark of curiosity in the prince, but he didn't have the energy to ponder it. He settled for a sigh of relief when small, cool hands touched his knuckles in a light caress. "I do not believe I am vigorous enough for our usual fare this time."

"That is quite plain to see." With both of them standing Asahi had no way to reach high enough to undo Zenos' shirt or coat, so he left those to the prince and set to remove his belts, unfasten his sabatons and loosen the strips of protective weave wrapped around his thighs. Attentive, efficient like any personal servant, but not without the occasional appreciative squeeze - his right as an established lover. "I think I will have you on your back tonight, ride you at my leisure." 

Zenos stopped unbuttoning his shirt for a moment to consider the proposal, then gave a firm nod. “Yes, I would enjoy that.” 

It was the allure of having someone he could give up control to that made him strike an agreement with Asahi in the first place, so the suggestion wasn’t out of the ordinary. It was as reassuringly familiar as the Doman’s smile - or his wandering hands, now that he had Zenos’ consent to the idea.

"You are still burning up," Asahi noted when he ran his hands up Zenos' chest and sides. He pressed against the muscles in a slow, firm massage and despite his returning worry allowed himself a smile when a bit of tension left the price's frame.

“Heat exhaustion takes time to pass.” He shrugged his shirt off at long last and insistently tugged Asahi’s hands as far up as possible, enjoying the cool touch more than he was willing to admit aloud. “Cold water and plenty of rest are the remedy. They placed me on medical leave until further notice.”

“Let me get you some cold water then. There’s an icemaker in the officers’ common room, just down the corridor. A few minutes there and back.” 

“That…" Zenos' reflexive reaction was to shoot Asahi down, but he thought better of it. "That is actually a tempting idea. Very well, I shall take you up on that offer.” He brushed some hair out of Asahi’s face, the hyur pressing into his hand like a needy cat. Asahi was a man of odd contradictions, craving Zenos' praise and his submission in equal measures, but at the end of the day everything was for his prince's pleasure. “Good thinking.”

“I aim to impress.” 

Asahi flashed him a bright smile and it seemed like a moment later he was gone already. Zenos stood there for a handful of heartbeats more, then continued undressing. He shed his clothes, uncaring where they fell, then stretched out on the bed in nothing but his briefs.

The next thing he realized was Asahi leaning over him, holding something cold - an ice cube, his brain supplied with some delay - to his lips. He accepted it with a groan of relief and let the ice melt in his tongue in comfortable silence. Asahi brought a hand to his face, stroking the tender skin around his third eye which almost put him right back to sleep.

He swallowed the last bit of the ice and peered up at Asahi. The hyur was smiling fondly, an expression that Zenos came to expect when Asahi was around him. It made Zenos feel  _ something _ he could not name when he first realized that these genuine smiles and warm looks seemed to be reserved for him and him alone. As their arrangement continued he started to crave that difficult to grasp touch of warmth.

"Ah, you truly are a treasure." The Doman preened at the praise, his face lighting up with a fetching blush. Zenos reached up and threaded his fingers through Asahi's impeccably coiffed hair and urged him to lean down for a kiss. A fitting reward for his clever thinking.

"You are too kind." Insatiable, Asahi dove back for another kiss, then another until Zenos reluctantly broke away to suppress a yawn. "Too tired, after all?"

"It would seem." Zenos made no attempt to hide his annoyance. Had Asahi been more his size he would have not minded to be taken for his partner's pleasure, his own body pliant and relaxed, but his hyur was too small to take much enjoyment from wrestling with limbs heavy with sleep or bear Zenos' hellish strength if he were to unconsciously grab him.

"I have expected so." Asahi's smile remained gentle even as he withdrew, sitting up straighter as he returned to his more formal manners to hide the disappointment he no doubt felt. "Thank you for taking the time to indulge me, my lord. I have left the water and the rest of the ice on the bedside table. Rest well."

Zenos recognised a man running away and caught Asahi's wrist before he could retreat beyond his reach. "You need not leave."

"My lord?" It was a rare feat to see Asahi hesitate, so Zenos focused on that small victory because he himself wasn’t certain why he said that. He didn’t  _ want _ Asahi to leave, but were his mind not so foggy he would not have revealed that. Well, there was no taking it back now.

"I may not be up to sex, but if you would stay, your company would be appreciated." He carefully tugged Asahi back to the bed. A faint look of hope bloomed on the small man’s face, yet he was still uncertain.

“Have I misunderstood the specifics of our arrangement? This is the first time you have requested to cuddle.”

“That much is true, but not the first time I wished it,” Zenos admitted, pushing himself up to sit next to Asahi, their backs against the headboard of the bed. Asahi handed him the glass of ice without prompting and moved a little closer. He seemed more pensive than spooked now, no longer ready to bolt. Zenos popped another ice cube into his mouth and tried to wrangle his thoughts into something resembling order while the silence stretched between them.

“My lord, you mean to say- were there times when you would have preferred to merely rest with me rather than our usual activities?” Carefully chosen words, Asahi’s Doman upbringing rearing its head like it oft did when he felt off balance. Were he born in Garlemald proper, Zenos mused, he would likely tend towards blunt straightforwardness rather than the overly polite, long winded patterns of formal Doman.

“You have not left me wanting, if that is what you fear. I don’t often find myself craving sex the way I heard it common among men, but that does not impede my ability to enjoy it with a skilled partner.” He shook the glass a little, watching the rapidly melting ice. “I don’t make it a habit to fake pleasure. If I was displeased with the way things were, you would have noticed it.”

“That is a relief to hear. Thank you.” Zenos shifted a little and Asahi wasted no time to join him properly, kicking his boots off before climbing fully on the bed and leaning against Zenos. He didn’t protest even when the Garlean wound an arm around him.

"You took less convincing than I expected." Zenos swallowed the last bit of ice, then considered the empty glass. The bedside table might as well have been in another room entire because it felt impossibly far away all of a sudden and any attempts at replacing the glass would have displaced Asahi who was a very comfortable presence pressed to his side. He absently weighed it in his hand while he thought, his mouth curling into a lazy smile when he got an idea.

All it took was the swift movement of one hand and the glass sailed through the air to shatter on the dusty logs of the fireplace. Asahi, to his credit, merely rolled his eyes at this supreme display of laziness.

"I feel distinctly overdressed if I am to spend the night,” he said instead, tugging at the fastenings of his uniform jacket.

“You are indeed extremely overdressed.”

“Will you let me up to remedy that?”

“Not yet, no. Hush now, I am basking in the moment.” That got a burst of startled laughter from Asahi. He buried his face in Zenos’ chest and laughed, breathless and fond.

“I’m glad.”

“Hmm?”

“That you allowed me to stay, although there are certainly others more… fitting to provide you comfort.” 

Zenos huffed. "If there are any who would waste comfort on me, I have met none of them. You are the first I am involved with who even considered it." 

Zenos had his share of lovers, if not quite as numerous as one would expect, but Asahi was the first who approached him with admiration and took equal pleasure in first taking him apart and then putting him back together. Far too often had Zenos committed himself to flings to satisfy his need to be conquered where he was left cracked open and bleeding, sometimes even in the literal sense. 

Even if in the end Asahi's adoration turned out to be a farce and his actions motivated by selfishness - a playmate who remained unbroken could provide entertainment longer, after all - Zenos found himself glad to have a partner who didn't leave him more broken with each session than he found him.

Zenos peered down at Asahi and found his face set in a grimace of tumultuous emotions, on the verge of breaking into tears or perhaps a passionate declaration. It was rather hard to tell with the hyur.

Alas, the moment was broken by the familiar knock on the door.

"Ignore it," Zenos instructed gruffly when Asahi twitched towards the door by habit. They knocked again and Zenos firmed his hold on his Doman, lest the man try to bolt. He had nowhere to go anyway.

There was no third knock. With the quiet beep of a keycard the door opened and Father shouldered his way in, free of his crown and royal regalia for once.

He paused to take the sight in and pushed the door closed with one hand, the other occupied by a decently sized tub of ice cream.

"Forgive me the intrusion, but considering your current misery I thought it better not to wait out if you get over your sulking and let me in before this melts." He ignored Asahi altogether as he stepped closer to the bed, as much of a silent acceptance as he would offer under the circumstances, but Zenos chose to take it with a pinch of salt. It was uncharacteristic of Father to intrude on his privacy - he always did insist that Zenos may retire to his room when in need of a safe haven and was one of the few adults during his progressively more and more unpleasant childhood who stuck to his word - but in this case Zenos begrudgingly admitted that he had a point.

And he came bearing a very appealing olive branch.

"My my, how thoughtful of you. Did you have to clap mal Asina in irons for him to allow it?" Asahi had buried his face in Zenos' side in a feeble attempt at pretending that he wasn't even there when his emperor got too close for comfort, but he groaned in quiet dismay when Zenos spoke up.

"He was rather too occupied waging verbal war with your CMO after she suggested it, so I snuck it past him." He narrowed his eyes. "Why does your pet scientist have a word in the matter to begin with?"

"He took over the duties of my nutritionist - allowing me rather more leeway than what the palace medici would consider acceptable, I might add."

"Leeway." Father echoed, his eyes darkening as he looked Zenos over, taking particular note of the sharp outline of his ribs. That was a look of displeasure which might not have been directed at him as such, but would end up causing Zenos a fierce headache down the line all the same. No doubt Father would set his own medici on the matter and he was liable to get pissed when he found out that he could not access Zenos' medical data. If he was not already privy to projects carrying the seal of the late Solus then he would likely remain so forever unless the accursed first emperor rose from his grave to grant him access.

Zenos sighed.

"If you came to compound my misery, you better leave and keep it. As you might see, I was occupied." He threaded his fingers through Asahi's hair, as much to soothe the Doman as to soothe himself.

It was oddly reassuring to see Father take a deep breath to keep his ever boiling temper in check.

"I wish nothing of the sort. Besides, I have my own. Two tubs of ice cream for one man would be rather excessive indulgence, even under the circumstances."

"I did not realize we had wine flavor in stock."

Asahi groaned again. Father just gave him a withering look for the cheek and placed the tub in his lap. "It's chocolate. Where do you keep your spare cutlery?"

He must have brought the ice cream as a reward for his progress with the legion, Zenos thought as he gestured at the desk with his head. Chocolate had ever been the 'you did stellar, please keep doing it' treat between them.

Zenos paid little mind to his father while he rifled through the desk, grumbling quietly whenever he found something out of place. His focus was on Asahi instead, gently coaxing the hyur to stop hiding. 

“Come now, do not be afraid. You won’t get in trouble. Isn’t that right?” The last bit was addressed at his father, who had finally found them a pair of spoons.

“Beyond the distinct relief that at long last you have one, I care precious little about who you chose to have an affair with.” The blunt, inelegant declaration seemed to do the trick. Asahi lifted his face and even accepted the spoon Father held out to him, although not without going deathly pale. Knowing full well that Father was an intimidating presence on the best of days, neither Galvus held it against him. "I see I have wasted plenty of your time already. Rest well. You have more than earned it."

Zenos smiled faintly at the praise. Father left before Asahi could puzzle out what the appropriate thing would be to say if there was anything appropriate at all.

"That went well," Zenos noted mildly, digging into the ice cream. "He approves of you."

"Surely you joke. I would be shocked if he even remembered who I am." Asahi was twitching slightly, his nerves rebelling against what just transpired.

"My spymaster compiled a folder on you when I requested your transfer. It is standard protocol to send him a copy when my request is suspected to be personally motivated." He shifted the tub so Asahi could reach it comfortably too. "Besides, if he disapproved he had the tools to express it, from harsh words to the several firearms he keeps on his person."

" _By the kami…_ " Asahi quickly stuffed his mouth full of ice cream before he could say anything more he would regret.

"Nobility is ever shackled by formality and he more than any other. That is why I am telling you in plain and simple words that you have made a favorable first impression. Rest assured if the opportunity presents itself, he will warm up to you in time." He stroke Asahi's hair, glad to see the tension seeping away from his small lover. "Let us talk of more pleasant topics. I have noticed that you read novels from one particular series and I find myself intrigued. Could you perhaps speak of these while our treat lasts?"

"Oh! Most certainly. The novels you speak of are a guilty pleasure of mine, a series of vaguely historical fiction popular in Doma…"

The explanation lasted longer than the ice cream. That night, for what would become the first occasion of many, Zenos found himself falling asleep curled around Asahi, listening to his lover's soft voice as he told him about how an outcast Doman prince prevented calamity from striking the land by seducing the serpent kami Seiryu and his companions.

If it led to the most peculiar dreams, well… he decided against telling Asahi. For all he had grown to enjoy the company of his little hyur, Asahi certainly did not need to know that Zenos imagined him in the role of the various all powerful kami. He would never let Zenos live it down.


End file.
